Inner Strength
by Lady Sassy Sas
Summary: But this time they would not help. Nothing would. She was alone until it was time to reveal all. Pairing: KakaSaku Rated: M
1. Undercover

**Disclaimer:** I, Lady Sassy Sas, do hereby disclaim all rights to the wonderful world that is Naruto.

* * *

Sakura glanced around her. She was deep undercover and had been for nearly two and a half years. Her targets were not suspicious of her anymore and for that she was eternally thankful.

When she had first appeared in the Hostess Club she hadn't a clue how she was supposed to go about acting the part. In the end she needn't have worried. It seemed Tsunade had sorted everything out for her and as soon as she walked in she was escorted to the man who ran the place who welcomed her instantly.

He explained how things were run and what her job was to be. He had been very polite to her and friendly. That had made her instantly wary. And she had been right; not two hours after she had left the office did she notice her tails.

But now, as she sat beside a man, drinking with him she couldn't help but look around the room every thirty seconds or so. She had gotten word a month ago that the Hokage was sending reinforcements her way.

She had owlish eyes when she read the numerous names on the list. Surely Tsunade didn't really need _that_ many of her shinobi here. Sakura had gotten a lot of information over the two and a half years and she was damned close to getting the clincher for this mission.

She had asked for a team to as back-up but obviously her Shishou had disagreed with her.

Kakashi, Genma, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Hinata, Hanabi, Yugao, Sai, Sasuke, Naruto, TenTen and Anko were all coming. Sakura didn't have a clue as to what the Hokage had planned but it made her very nervous that she was sending that many here.

She discreetly glanced at the clock on the wall. They were late-ish. She inwardly scowled, blaming Kakashi and Genma for being late.

She was getting up to let another woman take her place and to go after her target when the man grabbed her by the wrist.

"Stay,"

Sakura nervously glanced around her and then shook her head, "I'm sorry. I can't."

The man looked like he was about to argue but thought better. Sakura was relieved. Her target always booked her for a good hour and a half and she had more dohan dates with him than any other customers.

She nodded at the woman who was taking over her and as she made her way to her target the door opened and her steps hesitated for a second and her heart beat got faster. There was the back-up…._all_ of them.

She stood frozen in the middle of the floor watching them as they all filed in and looked around at the dazzlingly bright and ostentatious place.

Mentally shaking herself she carried on towards her next client before anyone could notice her. She didn't know if Tsunade had given any of them a detailed description of what she looked like.

"Ah! Yua. I was beginning to think you weren't going to come,"

Sakura inwardly revolted at the man. She hated everything about him. And she definitely hated the 'dates' she had with him. He was always very rough with her when things delved into the realm of sex. The amount of times she had had to heal herself in various places…

A smile that completely false emerged, "Of course not! How could I ignore my most attentive client?" she sat on his lap as she had done for countless nights. And everytime she had to stop herself from cringing away.

He ordered their first drinks as he cradled her, his left hand trailing the curve of her thigh lightly. It looked like it was going to be one of _those_ nights.

As he buried his head in her neck and started the old routine of giving her 'love'-bites she looked around and only managed to catch a glimpse of silver and dark hair respectively.

The target threaded his hand through her red hair which reached her waist. Sakura had grown it out before she came on this mission. Her last mission in ANBU had given her the time to do so. Her eyes were now silvery-grey.

She was brought back to reality when the man roughly yanked her head further away to gain better access to her neck and she very nearly winced when she felt his teeth sink into her skin, letting blood escape in a rash-like appearance.

"Come on, Yua; a private place is better suited to us tonight, I think," without waiting for an answer he yanked her up and started to drag her along the floor heading towards the exit. She nearly fell when he sharply yanked on her upper arm, showing his impatience and this time she did wince.

Her eyes met Kakashi's unintentionally when they passed by their booth and most of the occupants looked at her when she let a whimper of pain escape her lips when her target dug his fingers into a nerve cluster.

She saw Naruto ready to rise to help her when Sasuke placed a hand on his shoulder stopping him and Genma sending him a warning glance.

It was obvious that none of them recognised her. That Kakashi didn't know it was her and her heart ached at that observation. She was ANBU. ANBU never showed emotion, it was a hindrance. Sakura was ANBU but her emotions were her best asset even in ANBU.

But this time they would not help. Nothing would. She was alone until it was time to reveal all.

* * *

**Well, I've had an idea for yet another KakaSaku multi-chapter fiction and this is just the tip of the kunai as it were.**

**I have many, many idea's for KakaSaku fictions running through my head and many more reveal themselves each day that it's hard to choose which one to go with.**

**Anyway, please tell me what you think of this...preview? *shrugs* Depending on feedback I may start this one properly after Shattered is done but I also have another one written up so who knows?  
**

**I'm also looking for a beta-reader for some of my fictions so if you're willing/interested please pm me!**

**Read and review, please!**

**Lady Sassy Sas xXx**


	2. Blanket of Security

**Disclaimer:** I, Lady Sassy Sas, do hereby disclaim all rights to the wonderful world that is Naruto.

* * *

"Why'd you hold me back, Sasuke?" Naruto growled.

Sasuke looked at him in a patronizing way and said, "Because, our mission is to observe and back-up if needed. We are not to interfere otherwise, no matter what we see."

Naruto glared at the floor and clenched his fists. It went against his nature to not help someone in need, and that girl had definitely whimpered in pain. And it was grating on him that he wasn't allowed to help.

Genma watched as Naruto and Sasuke had a quiet and intense conversation. He still didn't know what to think or feel now that Sasuke was back, but he didn't pay much attention to the matter. As long as he didn't go on a killing rampage…

He turned his attention to Kakashi and raised a brow. "What is it?"

Kakashi had been thinking about what he knew of Sakura's mission the whole journey here, which wasn't much.

All he had been told was that she had been undercover as a Hostess for a while now, to bring down some bastard who was notorious for trafficking girls and women, as well as dealing drugs of all sorts.

According to the newest Bingo book, Kinjo Susumu has been hitting Hostess Clubs across the nations and finding the girls he liked most and 'testing them out' before 'acquiring' them.

The only problem is nobody had been able to find him because he kept changing his appearance by surgical means, which meant he had a highly talented medic-nin at his disposal.

Sakura had taken the mission seeing as she herself was a medic-nin and would be able to tell the signs of recent surgery no matter how talented his medic-nin was.

But her correspondence with the Hokage had been less and less the last few months; the last one had stated that she was close and to send a few people as back-up.

Tsunade had brought himself, Genma, Sasuke and Ino into her office, her choices as the back-up team, but Naruto had been walking by at the wrong minute, and it had snowballed from there until the team had grown to who was there now.

Before he had entered the establishment with the rest of them, he had sent his ninken to scout the area and the place itself. He had ordered Pakkun to find Sakura as fast as he could.

So far, none of them had relayed any information.

He was about to get up before they all watched as a man dragged one of the Hostess's down the wide hall and out the door. He had to hold himself back from

going to her aide when he caught her breath of pain.

The pleading look in her eyes was near impossible to ignore, but Kakashi was a pro and had been in the job for too many years to lose control.

He shook his head slightly and turned a lazy eye to Genma. "Nothing."

"You can't help – as much as we all want to, we can't," Genma said silently.

Kakashi just nodded and continued to survey the area, hoping to get a glimpse of Team Kakashi's medic-nin.

* * *

Pakkun darted in and out of the rooms set out for the Hostess' dressing rooms, sniffing everything in under twenty seconds before moving on.

He hadn't found Sakura's scent by the time he had gone through them all, and he knew the others hadn't either, otherwise they would have signaled him. He made his way back to the front to find Kakashi, when a man was roughly towing one of the women out of the club.

He made a split-second decision and followed them.

Stalking them for about fifteen minutes, he stayed outside as they entered a fairly expensive looking hotel. Dashing forward, he stayed hidden and followed the man's scent up to the 5th floor and quickly dashed inside the room the man was staying in before the door closed.

What came in the following two and half hours horrified him.

When the man had finished, he grabbed the woman and all but shoved her out the room before slamming the door in her face.

He watched as the woman forced tears back and made her way brokenly out of the hotel by fire exits. He then followed her all the way back to her modest apartment where she made her way through god knows how many bottles of various alcohols.

He made sure she was still breathing when she fell into oblivion before turning tail. He needed to find Kakashi.

* * *

Kakashi, Genma, Anko and Yugao entered the room they were sharing. All of his ninken had reported back to him with the exception of Pakkun.

This wasn't unusual as Pakkun was extremely thorough, and if he found something he'd investigate it till he reached an end.

"What did your dogs find?" Yugao's soft voice lilted from across the room.

Kakashi continued to stare down at the streets, his eye taking in everything and anything. He heard Genma exiting the bathroom, and Anko sat on the bed, sharpening her weapons.

"Nothing," he murmured.

"None of them?" Yugao's surprise wasn't hidden.

Kakashi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Pakkun hasn't reported back so I can't say for him, but the rest of them found nothing."

Everything was silent for half an hour, the other three going about various things while Kakashi remained in place.

The scent hit first, and then his ears picked up the tread of padded paws and claws as they made their way towards their room. He turned expectantly towards the door. A brown and blue blur burst into the room and stopped abruptly in front of the ex-ANBU operative.

"Pakkun. You're unusually late. W-"

The pug interrupted his master and began talking rapidly, "I followed a man who was dragging one of the women who worked in the club out the door. They went to a fairly expensive hotel fifteen minutes from the club," he said, taking a deep breath and rubbing his nose, the horrible scents from the hotel room stuck in his olfactory paths. "It's not good, Kakashi. He was very brutal with her. After he was done with her, he pushed her out of the room. I followed her back to an apartment block in the North-West corner of this town. She's in bad shape. She drank herself into unconsciousness – not that I can blame her."

Kakashi's eye had narrowed as he listened, and when he looked around at the others he saw the same expression on their faces.

He breathed in deeply as he prepared his question. "Do you reckon it's Sakura?"

Pakkun paused before shaking his head and answered, "No. Nothing was familiar about her, and her scent was completely different from Sakura's."

Kakashi nodded, relief flooding through him. "Take me to her."

Pakkun nodded and turned around making his way out the door. Kakashi made to follow him before Anko stopped him, asking, "And then what? We can't interfere."

"I can at least make sure she's alright – that she won't die," Kakashi bit back.

Genma unfolded his arms and stood up-right from his leaning position against the wall, "Want me to go with you?"

Kakashi quickly thought. "Yes."

Both men moved towards the door when Yugao spoke up, "And if she is dying?"

"Then we'll save her."

"And blatantly ignore the Hokage's orders. We can't tip this guy off that we're here. It could put Haruno-san's life in danger if she's found out."

Kakashi clenched his fist. Both Kunoichi were right. "Her life is already on the line. Has been for the past two and a half years. And considering her correspondence with Tsunade has been less frequent, I'd say she's either closing in for the ending or she's laying low."

Yugao had no reply to that, but Anko did, "She's a big girl, she can handle herself, Hatake. Involving yourself with this girl's situation could be detrimental to everyone, not just hers. Tsunade-sama does have a reason for us not to interfere."

"So if this is woman just happens to be Sakura and she dies because we did _nothing_ to help, what do you think our esteemed Hokage would do?"

When neither replied, he faced the door again and began walking, saying, "We'll be back within half an hour," but he found their way blocked by two Kunoichi.

"No, Hatake. We do not permit this,"

"Move out the way," he warned.

"No. I'm not going to let you fuck this mission up just because some woman is hurt." Anko glared.

"Some woman who could be Sakura!" Kakashi refrained from shouting.

Genma who had been silent watched with interest as Kakashi fought to control his emotions. It was rare to see Kakashi lose his temper, and he only did so when something serious or important to him occurred.

Sighing he spoke out, "We won't interfere. We're just going to check to see if she'll live, that's all. We'll be in and out, and I'll make sure the porn-addict doesn't give us away."

He met both women's eyes evenly, and they nodded their assent.

Both men and dog took off.

* * *

As soon as the pug left, Sakura shot to her feet and went to the bathroom. She didn't bother looking at herself in the mirror, already knowing what she'd see.

She healed as many of the tiny cuts, bruises and abrasions with the little chakra she had.

At times she would thank and curse Tsunade for putting that implant in her. She could easily take it out and restore her chakra to full capacity, but that would blow her cover.

Turning off the light as she left the bathroom, Sakura made her way back to the bed and collapsed upon it, wincing at her bigger injuries. There had been times were she had come so very close to abandoning her mission and going home to weep on her mentor's shoulder….or even Kakashi's.

But Sakura prided herself on her strength both mentally and physically. The past two years had been hell; the one thing she was so very glad of was that she had stopped her period indefinitely.

Injuries to her body she could cope with, but getting pregnant and being forced to abort? Hell no.

And then she remembered the day when her communication with Konoha had started to decline the long, steady slope.

Kinjo, who had had a certain fascination with her since she came to be his Hostess five nights into her mission, kept tabs on her. She had been sending letters to Tsunade via her own summons from the same place, the letter couriers. She used a slight genjutsu when she did so.

About six months back, Kinjo's jealousy got the best of him and when she exited the couriers' office, he had grabbed her and demanded to know who she was corresponding with. When she had told him it was an old friend, his eyes narrowed and he demanded to see the letter she was holding.

He soon realized that 'Yua' was innocent. Her friend Tsusame was just telling her of her life in some small village somewhere and hoping that wherever Yua was, that she was doing well and was happy.

He had apologized for making a scene, but he still kept a close eye on her.

Sakura thanked her own writing skills. She had made those letters in advance for some such occasion. The next time she was home, she'd give her mother a massive hug and thank her for those calligraphy lessons.

She shifted and a bottle hit the floor. She groaned and grabbed the bottle and drank what little was left.

She hated the taste of Saké, much preferring a plum wine of some sort, but it wasn't strong enough for her. Yua was a heavy drinker at night. Yua downed her sorrows in the bottles littered around the room.

Yua was the polar opposite of Sakura.

She groaned again. She wanted to be home. She closed her eyes as she opened another bottle and started to drink it. She would drink herself into oblivion all over again. She sure as hell wasn't going to be conscious when Pakkun appeared with Kakashi in tow.

No, she could handle the pain from her body, she could handle the stress put on her from this mission, she could handle being roughly man-handled, she could handle a multitude of other things; she couldn't handle seeing Kakashi and not seeing any hint of recognition in his eye.

* * *

Genma's eyes widened as he perched on the roof across from the apartment complex. He knew Pakkun hadn't been lying, but he couldn't help the shock that ran through him.

The girl was lying on her back completely naked and surrounded by bottles. Her sheets were tangled underneath her, and her hair was knotted and matted. But what shocked him the most was her condition, or lack thereof.

He took a sideways glance at Kakashi and saw the same emotion there.

"Come on, let's go check it out," Genma muttered and flickered over to the bay window and pushed one panel open.

The smell assaulted him first, and he brought his arm up to cover his nose. It stank of alcohol, stale blood, sex and sweat. He turned to look at his long-time friend and thanked whatever gods there were that he didn't have a heightened sense of smell.

Slowly, quietly, he made his way over to the Hostess from earlier to assess her more closely.

Dried blood was smeared across her torso, abdomen and thighs; he was willing to bet that if they turned her over, the same would be seen of her back. Her long red hair was matted with blood just behind her right ear.

There were massive bruises on both of her outer thighs and the left side of her ribcage and her right temple. There were small cuts littered across her front and from his observation, they were placed precisely to cause a lot of discomfort.

He looked up at the silver-haired shinobi across from him and nearly took a step back. His pupil covered what little colour there was in his eye, and a cold murderous vibe radiated from him.

He sighed. "Let's turn her over."

They gently rolled her half way before Genma shook his head and they both gently laid her on her back again. Kakashi quickly searched and found a worn throw blanket at the top of the bed. He threw it over her body.

Genma gently placed two fingers to her neck. "She'll live."

Kakashi nodded, and the both of them left the room and leaped back over the buildings. Just like on the way, the way back was completely silent.

When they entered their room, Kakashi stormed over to his pack, collected something and flew out the window, leaving the two Kunoichi looking stunned.

Yugao looked at Genma with wide eyes and asked, "Genma?"

Genma met both of their stares and just shook his head, running his hand through his hair and taking off his bandana. "Leave him." But they also knew he included himself in that statement.

He breathed heavily as he collapsed on his bed. There would be little sleep for him tonight.

* * *

Kakashi panted as he flung another kunai and lodged it to its hilt in the tree.

The images of earlier that night kept flashing in his eyes. No matter what he did, he couldn't rid himself of them. If only he had helped her as she was dragged away. If only he had said something or done something.

He growled as he yanked the weapons back out of the poor bark.

This was one of the many reasons he had quit ANBU. He couldn't stand anymore missions where people got hurt when he could have interfered but hadn't, because it would have cost him the mission.

He hated feeling so damn helpless.

But what he was really torn about was that the red hair of the Hostess kept turning pink in his mind; the pale skin turned slightly darker; the eyelashes slightly longer; the lips slightly thinner.

As he stood there, his eyes travelling the woman's marred body, knowing she'd live, he couldn't help but put Sakura's image in place of the Hostess'.

And that was what was really getting under his skin and making his blood boil.

He didn't know who Sakura was and his ninken couldn't find a trace of her. He had covertly used his Sharingan and had still come up with nothing, and neither had Sasuke.

Sakura had buried herself deeply in her cover making it impossible for anyone who knew her to recognize her.

Had Sakura been in that woman's position? Had she been tortured and raped?

Just thinking about that set him off again. He flung all his weapons at the tree again. Breathing heavily and rapidly, he sunk to the base of the tree and fisted his hair in his hands.

He hated the unknown.

* * *

Yua did her best to cover up. Applying make-up to her face hurt and finding a way in which to style her hair to cover up the large gash behind her right ear hurt too.

Her outfit covered her worst injuries while still showing skin. The cuts and bruises she couldn't hide with her outfit or make-up were just going to have to show.

And if she didn't appear at the club tonight, then that was letting Kinjo win. She'd be damned before that happened.

Her eyes turned melancholy and breathed out as she shut and locked her apartment behind her. It was just another day at work. Another night to go through the same shit.

As she began to walk, stumbling here and there and limping for all of it, her demeanor became brighter.

Kakashi had been there last night. He obviously didn't know it was her, but he had still checked up on her.

She smiled serenely.

After all, it wasn't every day you woke up to a blanket of security wrapped around you.

* * *

**I got enough feedback to decide to make this into a multi-chapter fic =) Thank you for the feedback and support ^.^**

**So here is the first chapter to Inner Strength. And many thanks to my awesome beta BaskingInTheSunshine!  
**

**This story is going to be dark in nature so I apologize in advance, but rest assured, I won't be graphic. I don't agree with being graphic in these types of stories, and I feel incredibly sorry for anyone who has been in a situation similar to the one in this story.**

**To me, the justice system is failing the victims. **

**Please review if you are reading! I do appreciate the feedback and take suggestions and criticism on board!**

**Lady Sassy Sas xXx**


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